1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet printing apparatus in which a recovery operation is performed in a print head for ejecting ink and a method of recovering a print head in the inkjet printing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been known that, in an inkjet printing-type printing apparatus, the recovery operation by a cleaning means has been performed in order to suppress the deterioration of the quality of a printed image while maintaining a favorable ink ejection through an ejection port in a print head. As an inkjet printing apparatus in which recovery operation is performed by the cleaning means, there is the one in which time is measured under fixed conditions to perform cleaning based on the measured time. The time to be measured includes, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-289229 for example, the accumulated printing time during which the printing is performed while the print head being not capped, the elapsed time since the previous recovery operation, and the capping time during which the capping is continuously performed after the completion of the printing for example. Based on these measured times, a table is referred to adjust the recovery operation level. By performing the recovery operation as described above, a printing apparatus is configured so as to suppress an excessive recovery operation to prevent a burden on a user.
By performing the recovery operation at the timing as described above, it is possible to suppress ink having an increased viscosity due to water evaporation in the ink from an ejection port of the print head. However, in case that the inkjet printing apparatus is in an environment in which dust such as paper dust is easily attached to an ejection port in the print head, the inkjet printing apparatus cannot solve such problem. Thus, it may be insufficient to perform the recovery operation as described above in which the time is measured under fixed conditions to perform the recovery operation based on the measured time.